


Moonlight

by ThereIsNoTragedyInThat



Series: A Thousand Futures of Me and You [195]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Boys In Love, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Tony Stark Has A Heart, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22069738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat/pseuds/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat
Summary: "Why did you decide to become a doctor?"
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: A Thousand Futures of Me and You [195]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1118655
Comments: 8
Kudos: 107





	Moonlight

“Why did you decided to become a doctor?”

Stephen’s fingers paused in the silky strands of Tony’s hair, disheveled and sweaty like the rest of the bed. It was late, the full moon casting a soft light into Stephen’s bedroom, soothing in the way only its silent guard could be. Resting on his chest, Tony seemed nearly asleep, warm breath ghosting across his glistening skin, though evidently, not close enough to the abyss to keep him from tugging out more of Stephen’s secrets.

Tony seemed to have a knack for asking questions that bordered on too much too soon. The man had no sense of boundaries or care for how little time they’d been together thus far. It was almost as though Tony were the one with the Time Stone and not Stephen. Luckily, it no longer left him floundering for half truths or quietly walking away.

No, instead, Stephen took a deep breath and carefully began running his fingers through Tony’s hair again. He smiled when the man let out a little huff, calloused palm tapping impatiently against his sternum, as though the answer served some essential purpose to his nightly routine and he couldn’t sleep without it.

Stephen let his eyes drift toward the window. From the bed he could just barely make out a few roofs and in the distance, clear skies dotted with sparkling stars. Peaceful. Safe. A rare thing to have in his life and it made it seem…simpler to explain to the man he loved so fervently, that the biggest decision he made in his life had been a selfish one.

“I told you once…about my sister.”

Tony shifted minutely. The subject, whenever it came up, was a tense one. Stephen appreciated the weariness, liked that Tony understood how delicate it was for him to speak about, was willing to let it go.

“When she was little, she hurt her ankle while skating,” Stephen murmured, eyes unfocused as he remembered. “She was a little demon about it, howling and complaining like it was the end of the world.”

Stephen swallowed thickly, “my parents didn’t have the patience for dramatics, and she _was_ dramatic. So, I took care of her, helped her when I could and spent most of my time with her until it healed. It was the first time I think we ever really got along, properly without constant fighting.”

“Doctoring make you feel closure to her?” Tony summarized neatly, fingers rubbing softly at Stephen’s chest.

He glanced down at his lover, offering a weak smile, “yes. Except. When she drowned I was there. I pulled her up from beneath the water and dragged her over to the edge, barely able to roll her onto the concrete. I clumsily started compressions, tried to give her breath and in the end, she was dead, and I hated myself.”

Stephen could feel Tony’s gaze on him but he’d long since looked back to the window, working hard to dispel the phantom of cold water and screeching pain that settled in his memory like a stone. He knew, as intimately as he knew himself, that Tony wouldn’t pity him or take his words for any other meaning then that Stephen had needed to fix something that was irreplaceably broken and had chosen the next best thing: other people. Other daughters and sisters and wives and sons and on and on.

The thing was Stephen had never done it for them. He never saved those lives for the sake of their loved ones, like someone with a less selfish disposition then him, he did it because it made himself feel better, because for a moment in time it gave him control over life and death and he could pretend he hadn’t lost the one fight that truly mattered.

A hand slipped into his own and squeezed tightly.

Stephen glanced over at his lover and found Tony shaking his head just a little, mouth twisted into one of discontent. He wasn’t exactly sure who that look was for, himself or Stephen but now was hardly the time to ask.

Tony shifted until he could throw one leg over Stephen’s hip, body half covering the one beneath him and tucked his face into the crook of Stephen’s neck. That made a smile slip onto his lips, his own personal human shield keeping the horrors at bay. As though Tony could read his mind he huffed indigently into Stephen’s skin.

There was a long moment where neither said anything and Stephen thought Tony might have drifted off to sleep, willing to let the moment go when a quiet whisper tickled his ear, “I don’t think that’s the only reason.”

Stephen blinked, brows furrowing, “the only reason?”

Muscled arms tightened around him briefly, “you’re a good person Stephen, even before you became a sorcerer. You made mistakes and you did what you could to protect yourself from that past but I think you became a doctor because of how happy helping your sister made you, not how helpless her death made you feel.”

Stephen tensed, eyes fluttering closed against the earnest words. They weren’t true and if Tony decided he needed to believe that it was fine. He just held his lover closer, “that’s an interesting theory Tony.”

“I have a habit of proving my theories to be correct, you know,” Tony responded with a sigh.

Stephen just shook his head and turned his face into the mess of hair against him, trembling fingers sliding up and down the smooth planes of his lover’s back, pausing to slide along the occasional scar.

His past often chafed at him, but it was becoming less and less painful to remember with each rendition Tony begged for. His questions no longer felt like opening a barely healed wound and some nights he actually yearned for Tony’s insatiable curiosity.

Stephen stared down at the side of Tony’s face, wrapped in shadow and found himself smiling at the realization he’d never feel this way about anyone again. No one could compare to the stark reality of safety and love that Tony embodied.


End file.
